Not Alone In Exile
by Aus Delphinus
Summary: Kovu (from Lion King 2) meets up with Diego (from Ice Age). Takes place during both movies. *FINISHED*. Please Read & Review!
1. The Meeting

Kovu had never known this coldness before.  
  
It was a coldness that went through his coat, and infested his spine. Draining away his warmth, bit by bit. He closed his eyes against the cold. Which made him remember.  
  
The stinging eyes in the gauntlet. His left eye still stung, but not like theirs. Their eyes burrowed through him with a sting to the other side of his body. Especially Simba's. He would have run if not for Simba's eyes, but not away. No, forward. Up Pride Rock to Kiara. To Kiara's eyes. They locked onto each other for a fleeting moment, before Simba's voice echoed the word he knew deep down would come. Exile.  
  
And then the masses supported their King's judgment. He was pushed out with a force both mental and physical. It was a strange feeling. He wanted to get away more than anything, and at the same time to stay more than anything. He turned back one more time. Simba stood unmoved. Staring. Kovu didn't have the will to look anymore. To be looked upon. He turned and ran. As his head turned, he caught the sight of that strange Mandrill. Rafiki, that was his name. He was sitting on a rock, watching. As his legs picked up speed, Kovu heard Rafiki give a moan of despair. He disappeared over a crest, away from Pride Rock, away from The Outlands. No one could accuse him of deception now - he truly was a rogue.  
  
"Not alone in exile."  
  
The Lion slowed a bit. He had heard Rafiki's voice. But Rafiki had been sitting on that rock back there. Kovu looked around. It was open space, no long grass, no trees for the Mandrill to hide in. Kovu picked up speed again, running as fast as he could, because that was as fast as he wanted to go. "Go to where?" he asked himself. "Do I really care?" he asked again. Kovu knew the answer to the latter question.  
  
"Not alone in exile."  
  
Kovu heard Rafiki's voice again, but did not lessen his pace this time. Instead he kept running. Running away from the coldness. And his run brought him here. to coldness.  
  
Everything was white. White fell from the sky like rain. It smothered the trees, and seeped into the caves. It covered the ground, and the horizon before him. Kovu pondered that if he stopped moving, the coldness would claim him. His fur coat had always protected him against the cold of the Savannah night, and had even bothered him sometimes on the odd hot day. But it had never faced this before.  
  
There was something more. This world felt ancient. It felt wrong. Kovu felt out of place, but not like back at Pride Rock. But he knew he would feel out of place anywhere now, and this world would make as good a home for him as any world.  
  
Kovu kept going forward. He didn't really know why, he didn't know where he was going, and he didn't care. This world would make as good a home for him as any world, but he kept going forward. His final destination would find him, not the other way around.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
The Lion stopped.  
  
There was a new smell. It had to be close by, this environment was doing a good job blocking out his long-range senses. It was coming from over the top of the embankment he had been walking by. It was new to him, like just about everything else here. But somehow, there was the tiniest bit of familiarity within it.  
  
Kovu climbed the embankment. There were fresh tracks there, going both ways. Once he reached the top, he stopped. The scent was there. He knew where the scent would lead. Kovu took in a deep sigh, and followed the scent. To the body of a creature he had never encountered before.  
  
Kovu gasped. He knew it wasn't a Lion, but was amazed how much they had in common. He got down low into its face, and stared in awe. Such a long pair of teeth..  
  
"Hey."  
  
Kovu glanced up in surprise.  
  
"Hey. HEY! cough"  
  
Kovu realized there was more than one of these creatures here. He turned and saw another. Lying on its side, out in the open. Kovu walked over to it. As he approached, he saw it was in a bad way.  
  
"Whoa, I knew that something wasn't right about you," it said as Kovu came closer.  
  
"Something not right about ME?" Kovu responded as he sat down. "Have you seen the size of those teeth you've got?"  
  
"Have you seen the size of that rug hanging around your neck? Have you ever heard of cough cough personal hygiene?" The strange new cat changed his tone in realization. "You really aren't a Saber, are you?"  
  
"A what? You really aren't a Lion, are you?"  
  
"A what?"  
  
There was silence among the pair. "Well, you're a long way from home, 'Lion.'"  
  
"I have no home." Kovu said as he looked away. "I did once, I had two of them in fact, but not anymore."  
  
"What'd ya do?"  
  
"I don't wanna talk about it." The Saber was quiet for a moment.  
  
"Good. I don't wanna hear about it." Kovu turned back. The Saber was simply staring forward blankly. Kovu also realized just how severe the Saber's injuries were, as he looked him over more closely. "What's your name, 'Saber'?" Kovu asked.  
  
"Diego," he replied. There was more silence.  
  
"What's yours?"  
  
"Kovu." More silence. Kovu didn't know what to do.  
  
"Hey Diego, what happened here? What happened to you?"  
  
"I don't wanna talk about it."  
  
Kovu looked anxious, but then firm. To hell with this. "Good. I don't wanna hear about it. Goodbye." He got up off his haunches, turned around and started walking away.  
  
"Hey, Kovu! Wait!" Kovu stopped and turned his head back. "Hold on a sec."  
  
"What is it?" asked Kovu gruffly.  
  
"Would you mind hanging around? This." Diego motioned to the wound on his side "shouldn't take too long. There are only so many times you can play tic-tac-toe by yourself, you know." Diego let out a little chuckle.  
  
Kovu turned his head back forward. He looked stern, but eventually softened his expression to sadness. The lion turned around and came back to Diego.  
  
"So, you're a Lion, huh? Never seen any of you before. Where do you all hang around, outside the Ice Age?"  
  
"Outside the Ice Age?" Kovu didn't understand.  
  
"Look, where is your. what's the cough phrase. 'natural habitat'?" Diego rolled his eyes as he spoke the last two words.  
  
"Habitat? You mean The Outlands? The Pridelands?"  
  
"Fine, good enough."  
  
"You know, I've never seen anything like this before," Kovu exclaimed, motioning around them.  
  
"Welcome to the neighbourhood."  
  
"Um, Diego?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What's 'Tic-Tac-Toe'?"  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ok, what's the win-loss now?" Diego asked as he drew a line through three circles in the snow near his paw.  
  
"Um.. it's, uh." Kovu stammered.  
  
Diego looked up at him. The Lion was shivering, his teeth were chattering, and icicles were forming on his coat.  
  
"Hey, Kovu," Diego said. Kovu looked down at him. "Get out of here. Turns out this is gonna take longer then I thought. You should get moving to get warm again."  
  
Kovu looked at him. "Um, Ok. See ya round, I guess."  
  
"Yeah, see ya round," Diego replied.  
  
Kovu slowly got up and started to walk away. And then stopped, and turned back. "What's wrong with you now?" Diego asked curiously.  
  
"You know Diego, if that wound's really as bad as it looks, I don't think you'd be alive now."  
  
"Probably not. But it will probably get me eventually." Diego stared solemnly forward again.  
  
"Yeah, but it would probably have gotten you by NOW, if it wasn't beatable," Kovu exclaimed enthusiastically.  
  
"Get out of here," Diego snapped. "I think I can assume we've both got enough pain in our lives already. Don't you agree?"  
  
Kovu stared down at Diego. Diego quietly spoke, "Just leave, Kovu. Get moving, get warm. Thanks for the company."  
  
Kovu waited for Diego to return his gaze, but it didn't happen. He walked off, down the embankment. The Lion found himself still standing there after a while, for some reason. Finally, he lurched ahead. He wanted to run, but he was sore from running, and stiff from cold. He walked as fast as he could.  
  
"Hey Kovu! Hey, wait up!"  
  
Kovu smiled. It was Diego's voice, carried by the wind. Somehow, Kovu found himself running back to the embankment. He found Diego limping away slowly from the bottom. "You know, on second thought, I'm not the sort of guy who takes this kinda stuff lying down. I've got to get a bit cough active, keep warm. You heading south?"  
  
"I don't know where I'm heading."  
  
"What, you mean you haven't made up your mind?"  
  
"That and more. I don't know which direction south is."  
  
"Huh? You didn't keep track of where you were going? Why?"  
  
"I didn't bother. Guess I didn't care to keep track."  
  
"Oh." Diego began to understand what was going on with Kovu. He was lost, without a pack, like him. Unless. Diego saw the slightest imprints in the snow on the ground. The imprints from a three-toed sloth, and a woolly mammoth.  
  
"Unless you've got any other plans, would you like to head this way?" Diego asked Kovu, nodding in the direction the prints led. "I'm going to try to catch up with some friends."  
  
"Yeah, Ok, you lead the way," Kovu agreed.  
  
"I'm going to be leading the way at Turtle's pace, you know," Diego advised.  
  
"That's fine," said Kovu. "I'm in no hurry."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2..  
  
P.S. Diego can call himself 'guy' because there's a time in Ice Age when he calls Manfred that, and the character of Manfred also isn't a Human, but a Mammoth. 


	2. The Journey

Diego and Kovu traveled together. Slowly. They followed the pair of tracks, with the Saber-Toothed Tiger walking in front of the Lion. Diego figured he could trust Kovu - if Kovu was going to do anything to him, he could have done it back at the clearing. They had traveled slowly, but had not talked to each other to pass the time, until now. Neither really knew what to say, and figured the other wasn't in the mood anyway. However, the tediousness of the journey eventually drove Diego to leap over this mindset, and he started chatting.  
  
"Hey Kovu?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Hey, come walk up here."  
  
Kovu obliged, and came up beside Diego.  
  
"Where'd you say you came from? The Outlands, and The Pridelands?"  
  
"Yeah, that's right."  
  
"Tell me about'em."  
  
Kovu thought about what to say. "Well, The Outlands is a barren land. Not much food, even less water. It's a desert, the land contains an uncountable number of cracks, criss-crossing like a network of tiny rivers."  
  
"Ok, I get the idea, let's try and keep the depression factor here from rising any higher," Diego interrupted, but using an unaggressive tone and giving a half-grin as he did so. "What about The Pridelands?"  
  
"The Pridelands? The Pridelands.. Such wonder," Kovu's eyes glazed over as he reminisced. "So much life, so much colour.. let's just say it isn't as white as this place," he concluded. "Or as cold."  
  
"Paradise," Diego summed up for him.  
  
"Yeah, it would fit that title. What about you, Diego? Where are you from?"  
  
"I'm from a couple of places. Some green, some orange, some grey. My pack and I traveled around a lot. But a lot of those places would be as white as this place is, right now."  
  
Kovu went quiet for a little while, but then spoke up again. "What is with this white? Why this white, why this temperature, in so many places?"  
  
"We're in an Ice Age, Kovu. Ice Age means ice, snow, cold. It's a season. A long, long, season."  
  
"Snow? Ice?" Kovu asked Diego quizzically. Diego sighed.  
  
"The snow is this stuff falling from the sky, this stuff we're walking on. Ice is frozen water. Like, water gone solid. Water you can walk on." Diego pointed to a frozen-over lake they had been walking alongside for some time as he spoke his last sentence.  
  
"Wow, ice." Kovu stared amazed, as they continued traveling.  
  
"Man Kovu, you must really not be from around here, I'm mean really really not from around here, to have never even heard of Ice. How'd you wind up at Half-Peak?"  
  
"Half-Peak?"  
  
"That's where you found me."  
  
Kovu looked away. "I told you before, I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Hey, I'm not asking for you're life story, I just want to know, how'd you get there? How long did it take you? Do you remember anything about the path you took?"  
  
"Well," Kovu started, really thinking about it for the first time. "It is really strange. It didn't take me that long at all. And you know, one minute I was in the outskirts of The Pridelands, and the next time I look around, you know actually take it all in, everything's white," he paused. "I've never even heard of 'Half-Peak,' or any of this, and nobody where I come from has either I bet, and I thought I knew the area pretty well." Kovu stared ahead puzzled.  
  
"Must have had something on your mind to not notice a change in environment, I mean something really big," Diego exclaimed. "Let me guess. you don't wanna talk about it?"  
  
"Got it in one, Diego. Let's just say, my traveling companions distracted me."  
  
"Companions? You had companions?" Diego asked. "Who?"  
  
"Deception and Disgrace," Kovu answered sadly. Diego stopped. Kovu went forward a further few steps, and then realized Diego had halted. "What is it?" Kovu asked as he turned and faced Diego. "Are you getting worse?"  
  
"Who did you say your companions were?"  
  
"Deception and Disgrace."  
  
Diego let out a big sigh, and started moving again. Kovu waited for him, and resumed walking as well. Silence claimed them again for a little while, until Diego again broke it. "Hey Kovu? You want to know what happened back at Half-Peak?" Diego suggested.  
  
"Yeah, I would like to know. I would like to know a lot of things," Kovu confirmed.  
  
"I'll tell you, Kovu. I'll tell you on one condition - you then tell me what happened back before your journey here," Diego said.  
  
Kovu stopped. "Why do you want to know so badly?" Kovu inquired, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.  
  
"Look Kovu, let's just say you and I might have more in common than we first thought." Diego answered quietly. He stood and stared patiently at Kovu, while the Lion slowly softened his face. "Ok, Ok," Kovu finally answered, walking alongside Diego again. "You first though, remember?"  
  
"Yeah, I remember..." Diego answered as his voice trailed off.  
  
"You know, it's good when things are set out in front of you. When things are clear. Your duty is clear, you don't even have to think about what you're doing. You know where you're coming from, you know where you're going. You know where your loyalties lie. The decision is made before you even hear the choices." The Tiger sighed in flashback. "I was part of a pack, led by a Saber called Soto. A pack that had lost half its members to Humans."  
  
"Humans?" Kovu enquired.  
  
"They're these weird fragile pink things, who through rocks stuck to the ends of sticks at you. Consider yourself lucky you haven't come across a full-grown one before."  
  
"Oh." Kovu was a little surprised at Diego's description. These things didn't sound so dangerous.  
  
"Anyway, Soto had desire for revenge on this herd of Humans. In an attack, he wanted me to grab a particular newborn of theirs, and bring it back to him alive."  
  
"Take it back to him. alive?" Kovu was again puzzled at first, but then realized. "Oh. I see."  
  
"Yeah, he wanted it alive and kicking. But during the attack, its mother took the kid and got away from me. I couldn't believe it had happened, but I had to report back. Soto was furious, saying I had better find it, or, let's just say things wouldn't have turned out well for me. They had gone over a waterfall in their escape, so you can imagine I didn't hold high hopes for the future. But, the kid had survived, and I found him again. I don't know what happened to the mother. There was another problem, however. when I found him, he had already been claimed by others. A Mammoth and a Sloth. You know, Mammoths?" Kovu shook his head. "Sloths?" Kovu shook his head again. "Look, just trust me, these two animals together make a real odd couple. And, they were concerned with returning the kid to his herd! So, I had to play the deception game. I was still loyal to Soto, and had an objective to complete. I made out I wanted to do that 'returning the kid' stuff as well. They were cynical, to say the least, but without me they couldn't do it. The kid's herd had moved on, probably presuming the kid to be dead, and they couldn't track them, unlike me. But the two of them didn't trust me enough to leave me to do it by myself. So, off we went. I wanted to ditch them and make off with the kid at the first possible opportunity, but that opportunity didn't seem to be forthcoming. Those two were sticking to the kid like sap to a tree. Thus, I made a decision. Like so many other things, I didn't think of it as a choice, the decision was predetermined. I was still loyal to Soto. I was gonna lead all three of them into my pack's clutches. I didn't really care about the Sloth, just the Human and Mammoth, but if the Sloth wasn't going to go away, he could join the feast as well. It would go down at Half-Peak. But." Diego's voice softened. "Something happened on the way. I couldn't believe it as it happened. My loyalty wavered, shimmered. These three didn't deserve what was in store. I wouldn't have been able to attack that Sloth, he was too. um. let's just say he was a unique individual. And the Mammoth." Diego closed his eyes for a moment. "The Mammoth saved my life. We really were a herd together. Herd members look out for each other, and that what Manny did."  
  
"Manny's the Mammoth?" Kovu guessed.  
  
"Yeah," Diego confirmed. "And as for the kid." The Saber once again closed his eyes. "Let's just say, I decided the deeds of the parents shouldn't be placed on the heads of the children. Decided for myself." Diego sighed and continued. "So we came to Half-Peak, and I was being torn in two. Loyalty has this thing about being shared, it doesn't work very well. Once more, I had a choice to make. But this time, the answer wasn't predetermined. And.."  
  
"You chose your new herd," Kovu finished for him. Diego stared, amazed. "Yeah, that's right, how did you know that?"  
  
"Just a lucky guess," Kovu replied solemnly.  
  
"So anyway, my pack wanted them, I tried to stop it from happening, and it worked out, I guess. Soto's dead, he's that other Saber you saw at Half- Peak. I'll probably never see my old pack again. I got wounded, and the Mammoth, Sloth and Human kid had to go on without me, or else they'd never catch the kid's herd, timing was crucial. And there I was when you found me. The End." Diego went quiet for a little while, and Kovu didn't say anything either. 'Hey, that's weird," Diego suddenly observed.  
  
"What?"  
  
"A shortcut. That should go in the quickest direction to the pass they were hoping to catch up with the kid's herd at." Diego gingerly pointed to a cave, going through a rock wall and out the other side. "But they didn't take it," he added, pointing to the tracks leading off away into the distance. "Weird, I don't think I remember seeing this before."  
  
"You should take it, if you want to better your chances of catching up with them," Kovu suggested. "It seems to me these three creatures have had a pretty big head start. You looked like you had been lying there for quite a while."  
  
"Yeah," Diego said, and the pair turned into the short cave, eventually coming out the other side. "Why wouldn't they have gone through here." Diego asked himself.  
  
"Maybe they didn't see it," Kovu stated.  
  
"Possibly, but the entrance was pretty obvious," Diego rebutted.  
  
"Hey Diego, can I ask you a question about what happened?" Kovu asked.  
  
"Yeah, knock yourself out," Diego replied.  
  
" The Mammoth, the Sloth, the Human 'kid'. how did they react to your betrayal?"  
  
"Well, the kid was too young to understand what was going on. Manny and Sid - Sid's the Sloth - were, however, pretty pissed at first. But when it was all over, I dunno, they seemed to have gotten over it. I can't be totally sure, but I think they had forgiven me. I hope I've redeemed myself. I hope." Diego looked down. "Anyway, it's your turn buddy. What's your story?"  
  
"Well, let me start out by saying it's good when things are set out in front of you. When things are clear. Your duty is clear, you don't even have to think about what you're doing. You know where you're coming from, you know where you're going. You know where your loyalties lie. The decision is made before you even hear the choices." Kovu gave a look to Diego, who was staring astounded.  
  
"There's a lot of history where I came from, a lot of history. But I don't think there's ever been as great a turmoil as in recent seasons. To cut a long story short, there was a Lion called Scar, and he killed his own brother, to take that brother's place as King.  
  
"King?" It was Diego's turn to ask questions.  
  
"How do I put this. the King is the 'leader of the land.' The whole land. Anyway, that brother who died had had a son, called Simba. As long as Simba was alive, Scar still wouldn't be the King, Simba would be instead. So, Scar planned to kill Simba too, and did indeed think him dead. And Scar was King. Until one day, Simba came back, Simba the true King. He wasn't dead, he had just run far away. But he came back. He gave Scar a chance to live in exile, but Scar wouldn't let go. And in the end he died. But his own former allies, who had helped him achieve power but then received the raw end of the stick after a while, killed him. Here's the real interesting part. I was supposed to be Scar's successor. The King after him."  
  
"Wow. What were you thinking when all this was happening?"  
  
"I don't remember this stuff happening. Simba returned just a short while after I was born, and I was too young for that, and everything that happened then, to be put to permanent memory. The rest happened before I was born. I just know I was adopted by Scar to be the next King, and my mother Zira had become Scar's mate. After I was conceived with someone else mind you, Scar wasn't my father. Anyway, in the aftermath of it all, all those loyal to Scar were banished to The Outlands. Do you think my mother was banished to The Outlands, Diego?"  
  
"I'm guessing so."  
  
"And along I went too, with others. Time passed, but Zira was like Scar in many ways. She also refused to let go. She was determined to restore me and my siblings to the status of Royal family of The Pridelands, the family with the King in it. She still planned to carry out Scar's wishes, with me as King. While I was still young, the plot formed in her mind. It was indeed, a plot of deception." Diego raised his eyebrows at this. "Simba had a daughter, her name is Kiara. I was to earn false trust and entry to the Pridelands by saving her life, then get close to Simba, and when the time was right." Kovu scraped an extended claw through the snow in front of him. "I was loyal to Zira, I believed what she had told me. In her version of history, Simba was the bad guy. The time came, and I saved Kiara's life, although it wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if not for Zira. And I was ready to fulfill my duty. Then... things changed. I fell for her."  
  
"The daughter? You mean fell in love with her?"  
  
"Yes. Zira, and The Outlands, had thrown a layer over my heart and my eyes. But somehow, Kiara managed to tear it away. And I opened my eyes to what was really going on."  
  
"You said 'in Zira's version of history.' When did you get to hear another version?" Diego asked.  
  
"Simba told me. Revealed explanations where I had question marks, question marks that I had been told to ignore. I wasn't going to go through with Zira's plot anymore. No, I saw it was wrong. I refused to kill Simba at first for Kiara, and because things weren't like what I had been told to expect. Simba was a good Lion. And now, I refused to kill him, for absolutely everything. But then. things went wrong, for everyone." Kovu gritted his eyes. "There was this ambush. Zira organized it, I didn't know about it, but Simba thinks I did. And Zira acted like I was carrying out her scheme, right in front of his eyes. I refused to kill him when the time came, but that did not sway his judgment later. I didn't kill him, but one of my siblings tried instead, and died, not intentionally at Simba's paw, but he did die. Simba got away. Zira was furious, so furious she swiped me, which is where I got this." Kovu pointed to the Scar on his left eye. "I didn't want to have anything more to do with any of her plans, and she blamed me for Nuka's death, so I departed Zira's pride."  
  
"Who's Nuka?"  
  
"My sibling, my brother."  
  
"And what do you mean, 'you departed Zira's pride'?"  
  
"I mean 'pride' as in, that's what a pack of us Lions is called. I headed for Simba's pride, hoping for forgiveness about what had happened with the plot, hoping Simba would believe that I had indeed changed. And he exiled me. So I left Simba's pride. And now, I'm here. The End."  
  
Kovu stopped, and Diego did as well. "Yep, here we are, together," Diego bounced back. "How about that."  
  
"Yeah how about that. You know, I feel different now. Better. Guess I'm glad I said all that." Kovu remarked.  
  
"You know, I feel different too, but - wrong. Like something's out of place." Diego tried to timidly shake the feeling out of him, and decided to focus on the world around them again. When he did, he cried out in surprise. "What the?" he exclaimed loudly. Kovu brought himself out of his emotional stupor as well, and realized what made Diego say that.  
  
The snow, the ice, was all gone. Looking back, it was away in the distance. Surrounding them now were water ponds, blackened trees and a fine mist of ash covering the ground. "What happened? I stopped looking around for just a little while, stopped paying attention, and the whole environment changed!"  
  
"This is the second time this has happened to me." Kovu added. "Wow."  
  
"Do you recognize this place at all? Ever been here?"  
  
"Yeah, I recognize it. This is where fire swept through along the Pridelands-Outlands border."  
  
"That's crazy. We've been going opposite to the direction you came from! This doesn't make any sense!" Diego shouted angrily, wincing as he aggravated his wound doing so. "This place doesn't feel right."  
  
"It feels alright to me. Feels. correct." Kovu looked upwards, and thought. "Let me guess, Diego. You can't quite reason why you feel out of place. You don't feel wrong, but the things around you do."  
  
"That's right! That's exactly right!"  
  
"I remember how you feel."  
  
"I don't know what to make of any of this, Kovu."  
  
"Me either, Diego. Me either." Kovu replied. The pair sat and stared in troubled thought for a while. "Hey, Diego?"  
  
"Yeah?" Diego responded quickly.  
  
"How are you feeling? I mean, like injury-wise? How's it feel?" Kovu decided to turn the train of thought to other matters.  
  
"You know, I think it's getting better. I'm still aching, but. I think I'm going to pull through. Just have to take it easy."  
  
"Yeah, I've noticed you haven't coughed in a while." Kovu observed.  
  
Diego suddenly said, "Let's get going again. I hate sitting around, not comprehending stuff."  
  
"Didn't you just say you had to take it easy?" Kovu exclaimed.  
  
"I've rested enough. I still might not reach them. Just one thing," Diego spoke as he got up.  
  
"What is it?" Kovu asked as he also stood.  
  
"Um, which way am I going to go? I've got no clue."  
  
"Me either," Kovu added. He paused, then spoke again. "Why not just forward?"  
  
After a moment's contemplation, Diego replied, "Yeah, why not, forward works for me right now." And they moved off again.  
  
~~~~~  
  
The pair had again been walking in silence, lost in their own thoughts, until Kovu stated "I shouldn't be here. I mean, travel wise, and.. exile. I shouldn't be here."  
  
"First of all, don't mention the geography stuff, it's making my head hurt. And as for the exile thing, you look to me like you're pretty quick on your feet, and pretty strong and tough. You'd probably handle it, fight or flight." Diego assured him.  
  
"Oh yeah, that too, but that's not what I meant. I meant." Kovu didn't finish.  
  
"What? What did you mean?" Diego harassed.  
  
"I mean. shame." Kovu looked down. Diego couldn't think of anything to say at first. Kovu talked again, "And if by some chance I saw Kiara. I don't know what I'd do."  
  
"Are you. afraid of running into Kiara?"  
  
Kovu thought. "Yes, that is true. Definitely," he confirmed.  
  
"Why, do you know she sided with her father at judgment?" Diego asked.  
  
"You know, I think she didn't, not by how she cried out. But I just can't be sure of what I think. anyway, it's better if we never meet again. There is no way it could work out. No way."  
  
"If I was you, and I saw her, I'd run up to her and ask her to run away with me at the first opportunity. I wouldn't throw a love away like that." Diego said.  
  
Kovu spat. "Shut up, you don't know! You're not involved! You don't know what it's like! Everything's fine for you now!" he lashed out angrily.  
  
"You think everything's fine for me? YOU THINK EVERYTHING'S FINE FOR ME?" Diego gritted his teeth in pain, but then continued. "You think I'm not afraid? You think I'm not afraid of the moment I meet up with them again, if I ever do? Don't you know what I did, what I did to them?"  
  
"I do know, I was listening!"  
  
"And I listened to you!" The pair halted their exchange.  
  
"You're going to meet up with them, right?" Kovu enquired worriedly.  
  
"Maybe not. Might lose my nerve. You know if it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have got up to my feet again and started traveling from Half- Peak."  
  
"You know, Diego, I think we've got more in common than we first thought," Kovu said quietly, after a solemn silence.  
  
"I was just thinking the same thing," Diego responded.  
  
The pair was again wrapped in a solemn silence, until Kovu said, "Diego, if you get the chance to meet up with your new herd, you should do that. Ok?"  
  
"And if by some chance you come across Kiara, you shouldn't run away from her. Ok?"  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Ok."  
  
" 'Should' doesn't mean 'will,'" Kovu added sadly.  
  
"Nope, it doesn't," Diego added as well, just as sadly.  
  
The Saber and Lion walked for a little while longer, with their heads bowed, kicking up ash, until. " Hey look at this! This ash has snow underneath it!" Diego exclaimed.  
  
"Huh?" Kovu examined the ground more closely. It was true - ash covered a layer of snow.  
  
"And look at that!" Diego nodded ahead. A ledge was in front of them, to the right of their path. Going up to the top of the ledge, snow and icicles became more and more dominant. While back below, there was again blackened trees and ash, with occasional tufts of grass breaking through. There was some long grass as well in places, untouched by flame. "Which way do we go?" Kovu asked.  
  
The pair paused in contemplation. "I want to take the path up and over the ledge. Things look. right, up there."  
  
"Actually, it would feel better staying off the ledge. At least, I would feel better. That environment just doesn't suit."  
  
"I'm going up there, I think that's where I'm supposed to be," Diego said.  
  
"I think. that's not where I'm supposed to be," Kovu said back. They looked at each other in the realization this was goodbye.  
  
"Well, I guess, I'll maybe see you later then," Diego said to Kovu.  
  
"Yeah, let's see if we can do that," Kovu replied. But as they spoke, they both knew they would most likely never see each other again.  
  
"Goodbye, Kovu. Thanks for the company," Diego said.  
  
"Yeah, same. See ya Diego," Kovu returned. Diego started heading up the path over the ledge, very slowly, as if conflicted. He then turned back and went the short distance back to Kovu, who hadn't moved.  
  
"Look, Kovu, this is kind of a Saber thing. But." With that, Diego put his right paw on Kovu's left shoulder. Kovu looked puzzled at first, but then with gladness reflected Diego's action. They both looked straight at each other.  
  
"Goodbye," Diego said.  
  
"Goodbye," Kovu replied.  
  
With that, they took their paws off each other's shoulders, and Diego turned and again slowly walked up the ledge path. He went up and over the ledge crest, never looking back. Kovu again watched him the whole time, and once Diego had disappeared from view, he started walking again. He didn't know exactly to where, and he could have run, but he just walked. The Lion didn't feel like running. Kovu walked, until he froze in mid-step. He could see Kiara, walking over the hilly land. He watched, as she finally lay down sadly on top of one of the hills..  
  
THE END 


End file.
